Maps

On other pages

Using this page: some hints

This and most other pages of 'Wind in the Bush' are set out like reference
books.
There is a contents list at the top of each page
and at least one index at the bottom of the page.
Use these to find the subject you want, or use CTRL F to find words or
phrases that interest you.
You can also Google search all of Ramblings.
All the main pages of 'Wind in the Bush' are listed at the top left of the
Wind Home page and each of the states' pages.

Climate change
is the greatest threat facing the world today;
wind generated electricity is one of a number of ways that we can
reduce our reliance on fossil fuel-generated electricity and therefore
reduce our greenhouse gas production and limit climate change.

Wikipedia gives some
information on proposed and operating wind farms in Victorian.

Wind Resource Map of Victoria

Key: Average yearly wind speed (metres per second at 65 metres above
ground)

The oldest operating wind turbine in Victoria, and in Australia, is the
Breamlea Wind Turbine, on Black Rock Road in Geelong.
It turned 25 years old in November 2012.
Its installed capacity is 60kW, the same as those of the now dismantled
Salmon Beach Wind Farm in
Esperance, Western Australia.

The map on the right is a wind resource map of Victoria.
It shows that the best wind resources are along the southern coast and
in the higher altitude areas.
Most of Victoria's wind farms are being built along the southern coast
and around the Ballarat, Ararat, Hamilton area (SW of Ballarat).

Victoria has some of the best wind resources of Australia.
The policies of the Howard Government stopped these resources from being
developed (none of the wind farms built before 2008 were large, and
the total
installed capacity
in February 2008 was around 130MW.
The situation did improve for a time, but in early 2011 Victoria had
only 428MW of installed wind power against South Australia's 1150MW.

Liberal party opposed to climate change action

In August 2011 the Victorian
Liberal government placed in
force new laws that will make
further wind power development very difficult.
To make matters worse, the Liberal Government have also promised to drop the
10% by 2016 renewable energy target.

Significantly, no new wind farms had been proposed by July 2012, showing that
the Liberal government had effectively stopped wind power development in
Victoria.

Labor not much better?

Also in July 2012 Shadow Minister for Energy, Lily D'Ambrosio, refused to
commit to repealing the laws that have stopped wind power development in
Victoria when Labor eventually gets back into government.

An apparently unintended consequence of the new Victorian laws was to force
the construction of several wind farms before expiration of planning
approval granted under the old laws.

In July 2012 it had been noted in the media that no new wind farm proposals
had been lodged in Victoria since the new laws came into force.

In late August 2011 the Victorian government listed a number of no-go areas
where wind farms would not be allowed, a number of 'major regional centres'
where wind farms would not be allowed within 5 km, and a law against
any wind turbine being constructed within 2 km of any house without
the consent of the home owner.

These laws make it harder to build a wind farm in Victoria than to start a
coal mine, extract coal-seam gas, or build a fossil-fuel-fired power station.
Victorians do not have any right to veto new power lines, highways, coal
mines or any other industrial or mining developments within similar distances
of their homes.
This seems to be a law enacted by a government that wants to stop wind
power development and support the existing fossil-fuel power industry.

Friends of the Earth Victoria spokesman, Cam Walker, estimated that the new
laws have stalled or prevented the development of planned wind farms worth
up to $955 million.
He said that at least nine farms promising up to 580 construction and 57
permanent jobs were affected.

Map from the office of ALP MP Brian Tee
Wind farms cannot be built in any of the coloured areas under the Baillieu
rules.
More at Yes2Renewables

Hepburn Wind published this revealing comment:

"all five community wind proposals that we are aware of fall within these
new [no-go] zones.
Somewhat ironically, all six of Victoria's coal fired powered stations are
located in so called no-go zones."

So apparently Victoria's new government is happy to have coal mines and
coal-fired power stations, but against renewable energy!

Hazelwood coal mine fire, February 2014

It seems that the Victorian Liberal government are quite
happy to have coal mines in this area, even when they are run incompetently,
but wind turbines are against the law.
Does the reader see any ethical problems with laws like this?
Image credit 350.org

Extract from 'VC82 Explanatory Report.pdf'; the land below may not have
a wind farm built on it:

all land covered by the Mornington Peninsula and Yarra Ranges planning schemes

land described as the Bellarine Peninsula, being the area that is covered
by the Queenscliffe planning scheme and that part of the Greater Geelong
planning scheme east of the Surf Coast Highway and south of the Princes
Highway

land described as the Great Ocean Road region, being land within five
kilometres of the high water mark of the coast between the Surf Coast Highway
in the east and Warrnambool in the west in the Warrnambool, Moyne,
Corangamite, Colac Otway, Surf Coast and Greater Geelong planning schemes

land in the Macedon and McHarg Ranges, being all land covered by the Macedon
Ranges planning scheme, all land west of the Hume Freeway and the Goulburn
Valley Highway in the Mitchell planning scheme, and all land bounded by the
McIvor Highway and the Calder Highway/Freeway in the Greater Bendigo and
Mount Alexander planning schemes

land within five kilometres of the high water mark of the coast in the Bass
Coast planning scheme and South Gippsland planning scheme west of Wilsons
Promontory

land within five kilometres of major regional cities and regional centres
specified in the Regional Victoria Settlement Framework in the State
Planning Policy Framework being Mildura, Swan Hill, Echuca, Shepparton,
Benalla, Wangaratta, Wodonga, Horsham, Ararat, Ballarat, Greater Bendigo,
Hamilton, Portland, Warrnambool, Colac, Geelong, Moe, Morwell, Traralgon,
Sale and Bairnsdale (the prohibition in these locations does not apply to a
Wind energy facility integrated as part of the development of the land where
the land is in a residential zone, industrial zone, business zone or special
purpose zone).

At one to two kilometres people will be able to hear the turbines at times,
and they might find the sound objectionable.

These new laws will make it very difficult for any
new wind farm to be built in Victoria.
It would be reasonable for people in quiet country areas who are to have
wind turbines built within 2 km of them to have some say in the matter,
or to receive some financial compensation, depending on the level of
sound that they may be subjected to.

People have no right to veto the building of a nearby highway; is it right
to give them the power of vetoing the building of a wind turbine at a time
when the world is in dire need of more renewable energy to combat
climate
change?
If this law is to remain in force there is at least a need for the
wind farm proposer to have some sort
of a right to appeal unreasonable demands by home owners.

Wind power generation in Victoria
Only those farms whose generation data are given by AEMO

Total 132MW
Data up to end 2012

Unfortunately the Australian Energy Market Operator only provides data
from the larger of Victoria's wind farms.
I do not have generation data for: Codrington, Toora and Wonthaggi wind
farms.

The AEMO data is not clear about exactly what is included in 'Portland'.
It seems to include only Cape Bridgewater and Cape Nelson South wind farms.
At some times and in some places Codrington and Yambuk (also Pacific Hydro
and nearby) are included in 'The Portland Wind Project'.

Below is a conceptual map of Victoria.
The numbers in each cell are the Latitude and
Longitude, the main town in the area is shown in the cells.
Placing the mouse over the highlighted bits will show which wind farms are
in that area, clicking will allow you to get to the details
of those wind farms.
Similar sections are in the pages on
NSW and
SA and
WA.

Note that the wind farms listed here as proposed or approved will not
necessarily ever be built.
You can't be sure that anything is going to be built until it starts
happening.

Cape Bridgewater Wind Farm, under construction

Colour coding for wind farm status

Proposed

Development application lodged

Approved

Under construction

Operating

Note: Latitudes and Longitudes are given below in decimal degrees.
They are given to two decimal places because this defines the location
to ±1km; a wind farm is a large thing and typically covers a
number of kilometres.

It was reported in the Stawell Times, 2013/08/27, that "It is expected
$75 000 will be made available each year through the [community] fund,
which is offered on a voluntary basis by RES Australia for the operational
life of the wind farm, with funding decisions to be made by a local
committee.

Stock and Land, June 2014

The sight of this proposed wind farm is near Tarwin Lower, 20
kilometres west of Wilsons Promontory and 150km SE of Melbourne.

This is the wind farm that became famous for being at first blocked by
Federal Environment Minister Ian Campbell because of a alleged threat
to the endangered orange bellied parrot, and then OKed when it became
apparent that the proposed wind farm posed no threat to the parrot.

This wind farm was owned by Transfield Services Infrastructure Trust, but all
their wind power assets were taken over by Ratch Australia Corporation.

The wind farm will be in the vicinity of Baynton, Glenhope,
Glenhope East, and Baynton East on the map.
Map credit Transfield

It is proposed that the Baynton Wind Farm will be on the hills about 10km
SW of Tooborac,
30km NE of Kyneton and 40km east of Castlemaine, and it is expected to cost
around $325 million.

Transfield have said that "Initial studies suggest that the site is well suited
for the development of a wind farm.
Wind speeds in the area ideal for harnessing this renewable energy source."

Transfield intended to produce regular newsletters on the progress of the
project; some of the information on this page is from their first newsletter.
A 'community Open House' to inform people of the project, was held on
October 28th 2010 at the Tooborac Hall.

The wind farm site straddles the boundary between Mitchell and Macedon
Ranges Shire Councils.

Acciona announced on 2012/11/29 that it was going to submit a fresh planning
application to Buloke Shire for 23 of its new 3MW turbines.

Acciona Energy has proposed this wind farm 70km NW of Bendigo
about 16km west of Wedderburn and 19km south of Charlton; they have a
Net page on the project.

Acciona stated that it would comply with Victorian Government requirements
for turbines to be at least two kilometres from residences.

Berrimal Wind Farm summary data

Status

# Turbines

MW each

Total MW

Construction date

Lat.

Long.

Proposed

23

3

69

Undecided

Approx. S 36.53°

E 143.46°

The two kilometre requirement applies to wind farms but not to coal mines,
fossil fuel-fired power stations
and other fossil fuel industries and seems to follow
Liberal policy designed to favour the
fossil fuel industry over renewables.

This large wind farm is proposed by Union Fenosa
Wind Australia (UFWA) who have a
Net page
on their projects and have produced several newsletters.

Berrybank is about 15km east of Lismore, ten kilometres west of Cressy
and 40km north of Colac; the wind farm will be close on the eastern side
of Berrybank.
UFWA has a map of the proposed wind farm in its newsletter of October 2009.

UFWA has estimated that "up to 240 full-time jobs will be created during the
12 to 14 month construction period" and "up to 25 full-time permanent staff
for the lifespan of the project".

The Newsletter for August 2013 announced "early works construction" will
begin in August.

Visiting Cape Bridgewater

For anyone interested in visiting or
photography,
there are some good
vantage points on a public road quite close to the northern section of
the wind farm.
When the southern section is built access would be similarly good there.
When I visited, the weather was poor for photography (mainly overcast).

Pacific Hydro established a Community Fund of $50 000 per year for
Cape Bridgewater.
As Cape Nelson South Wind Farm is
nearby a combined fund of $90k for the two was created when that project
was constructed.
As of September 2010 the total distributed was $280k.

Located on Cape Nelson about 10km SW of Portland,
Cape Nelson Wind Farm is divided into a north and a south section.
Pacific Hydro has a Net site on the
Wind Farm.

Cape Nelson South summary data

Status

# Turbines

Manufacturer

Model

MW each

Total MW

Completion

Lat.

Long.

Operating

22

REpower

MM82

2

44

June 2009

S 38.41°

E 141.54°

Erection of turbines in Cape Nelson South commenced in September 2008,
the turbines are Repower and they operate at wind speeds of from
3.5 to 25m/s.
The towers were manufactured by Keppel Prince Engineering, the turbines
are REpower 2MW units.

This wind farm is located on a north-south trending line of hills west of
Ararat, 190km
WNW of Melbourne,
in western Victoria.
For an interactive map and/or directions to Challicum Hills go to ExplorOz.

The information in this table came from a variety of sources including
Pacific Hydro.
The capacity factor was calculated from AEMO data from March 2009 to
December 2012 via the Andrew Miskelly's Net pages.

Challicum Hills Wind Farm
Photo taken in April 2008

Further data from Pacific Hydro, the owner and operator of
Challicum Hills Wind Farm...

Visiting Challicum Hills Wind Farm

There is no public access to the range where the turbines are.
This is a pity, it greatly diminishes the potential for good views.
However, there is a sign-posted scenic drive around the range and there are a
couple of spots along this from which fair views can be had.

The graph on the right shows the power generation record for Challicum Hills
Wind Farm as recorded by AEMO (Australian Energy Market Operator) and
downloaded via the ALG (Australian Landscape Guardians) Net site.
The units are average megawatts generated month by month.

This very small wind farm is under construction at Chepstowe,
30km west of Ballarat.
It is on land at 346 Carngham-Streaton Road.
Future Energy has a Net
page on the project.

On 2015/03/25 I was informed that the turbines were standing.

Victoria's Planning Minister announced that he had approved the project on
2011/05/18.

The information above was extracted from an article by Emily Sobey in the
Ballarat Courier on 2010/02/21.
Quoting the article:

"Pyrenees Shire Mayor David Clark said a few local residents were
concerned about the Chepstowe proposal but council's initial view was that
it was a "very simple" proposal.
"The landholder's property is a kilometre away and there are no other
properties within 2km," Cr Clark said.
"It's a very small development, nowhere near the infrastructure (of other
wind farms).
You have three turbines right beside a normal power line so there are no
sub-stations."

News, 2013/11/26

Infigen announced that VCAT (Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal) had
approved the wind farm.

This wind farm has been proposed by Infigen.
It seems that Infigen do not have a Net site giving information about the
project.
This is very poor practice.
They should be making every effort to inform the community about the
wind farm.

It was rejected by Mitchell Shire on the grounds that it "failed to
demonstrate a net community benifit".
It seems that the shire's planning staff recommended that the project be
approved.
This issue will be pursued in the Victorian Civil and Administrative
Tribunal beginning in the end of January 2013.

Summary data, Cherry Tree Wind Farm

Status

# Turbines

MW each

Total MW

Construction date

Lat.

Long.

Approved

16

3?

48?

Undecided

Approx. S 37.13°

E 145.11°

The coordinates above are very uncertain

Additional data on Cherry Tree Wind Farm

Owner/operator

Infigen

Capital cost

$100m

Tower height

100m

Blade length

59m

Total height

159m

Some of the above data was extracted from the records of the
Mitchell Shire, some
from an article in The Australian, and some from elsewhere.

Located near Port Fairy on Victoria's south west coast
(260km east of Melbourne), Codrington was
Pacific Hydro's first wind
farm development, and I believe, the second substantial wind farm in the
eastern states of Australia (after
Windy Hill Qld.)
The turbines are spread along the top of a stable sand dune paralleling, and
close to, the Southern Ocean.
For an interactive map and/or directions to Codrington go to
ExplorOz.

Visiting Codrington

While the Princes Highway passes within a few kilometres of the wind farm
it is not possible to get close to the turbines on any public roads.
I believe tours are available.
Perhaps the best views from a public road can be seen from a short
no-through-road off the highway toward the sand dunes at the NW end of
the wind farm.

Note that this wind farm is adjacent to
Yambuk Wind Farm, with no obvious boundary
between the two.

Codrington summary data

Status

# Turbines

Manufacturer

MW each

Total MW

Annual production

Completed

Lat.

Long.

Operating

14

AN Bonus

1.3

18.2

51GWh

June 2001

S 38.28°

E 141.96°

The information in this table came from a variety of sources
including Pacific Hydro.
Also see Pacific Hydro's page on
Codrington.

Further data from Pacific Hydro, the owner and operator of
Codrington Wind Farm...

Pacific Hydro established a Community Fund of $50 000 per year for
their two adjacent wind farms, Codrington and Yambuk; this equates
$1471 per turbine per year.
As of September 2010 the total distributed is $280k.

News 2015/02/09

A power-purchase agreement has been signed between Windlab and the ACT
government, which is aiming to have 90% renewable energy by 2020.

It was announced that the wind farm will be operating within a year and
the payment will be $81.50/MWh.

Garth Heron of Windlab was quoted on ABC online news as saying
"We are planning to start construction this year and we'll have generation
on site early next year."
(This is a remarkably tight timetable.)

If built it will be between the towns of Charlton and St Arnaud, about 90km
north-west of Bendigo.
It is notable for two reasons:

It was the first wind farm to be approved in Victoria since the Baillieu
Government introduced very restrictive planning policies in 2011.

It had a hybrid community/corporate ownership structure.

30 owners of property within three kilometres of the wind farm have agreed to
take up a share of the project, which is being organised by Coonooer Bridge
Wind Farm Pty Ltd.
Windlab is the majority stakeholder.

Coonooer Bridge summary data

Also known as Glenlofty Wind Farm

News; 2013/08/07

ABC On-line news reported that construction had started (had it not, Pacific
Hydro would have lost planning approval).

Pacific Hydro has proposed this wind farm for a site 25km
NE
of Ararat in western Victoria.
(Ararat is 190km
WNW of Melbourne.)
The turbines will be along the ridgeline between Glenlofty and Crowlands.

Also known as Yarram Wind Farm

The site of this proposed wind farm is about 10km NW of Yarram and 20km
from the coast in south Gippsland.
The nearest large town is Traralgon, 44km to the north, and it is 170km
ESE of Melbourne.
Synergy is the
proposer of this wind farm.

Some of the data below was from
Dept. Primary Industry, Victoria.
There seems to have been no activity on this project for several years.

Devon North (Yarram) summary data

Status

# Turbines

MW each

Total MW

Construction date

Lat.

Long.

Proposed

7

2

14

Unknown

Approx. S 38.50°

E 146.55°

The Gippsland Times reported that a requested extension of planning approval
was regected by the Wellington Shire Council; late February, 2012.

Union Fenosa has called for 'information-only tenders'.
During the second stage of tendering UF aims to give local businesses
ample notice and information to enable them to compete.
The project requires a power purchase agreement before it can proceed.

I believe the proponents were originally Gamesa Energy Australia and TME
Australia P.L., but Union Fenosa later took over the project.
The proposed wind farm is 50km SE of Hamilton and 30km NW of Warrnambool.

Around the end of 2012 the Ryan Corner
project was combined with Hawkesdale to form a single project.
(See
below.)

A newsletter from Union Fenosa Wind Australia
(UFWA) that I received
2012/05/11 said that 'early works' were completed.
Early works include and entrance road and a fenced site compound including
an office and toilet.

The email address for inquiries is info@unionfenosa.com.au, telephone
number 1800 457 181 or 02 8297 8720; the contact person
is Tom Mitchell.

The area has been substantially cleared and is currently used for
grazing.
The site is generally bound by the Woolsthorpe-Heywood Road and the
Penshurst-Warrnambool Road.
It is dissected by a disused rail reserve in the eastern part.

In early 2012 Union Fenosa had a problem due to their allowing the permit
to lapse.
On 2012/02/25 the Warrnambool Standard announced that Planning Minister
Matthew Guy had approved the project.
The Standard went on to report that
"Union Fenosa managing director Domingo Asuero said the company would provide
site possession to Portland-based GR Carr Construction.
He said early works on the sites would start within weeks."

Hawkesdale Wind Farm summary data

Status

# Turbines

MW each

Total MW

Full construction
works

Completion date

Lat.

Long.

Under construction

31

2

62

Late 2013

Unknown

Approx. S 38.12°

E 142.34°

Additional information on Hawkesdale

Project cost

Around Aus$130 million

Annual generation

Estimated 163GWh

Annual CO2 abatement

Estimated 332 thousand tonnes

Tower height

78m

Rotor diameter

87m

Blade length

43.5m

Total height

121.5m

Forced commencement

This is one of several Victorian wind farms where construction had to start
by mid March 2012 or approval would have to be sought again under the
new laws.
Approval under the new laws would be very unlikely.

The ABC on-line news carried the following on 2008/08/25...
"The Victorian Government has confirmed a 68-turbine farm at Ryan's
Corner, near Port Fairy, and a 31-turbine farm near Hawkesdale, will
go ahead."

News

Neelima Choahan wrote an article in the Ballarat Courier on 2013/04/30
reporting that civil works (earth moving) had commenced on the Yendon
site.
WestWind Energy managing director Tobi Geiger said "Hopefully, next summer
... we will be building a concrete slab for maintenance and building
foundations for the wind turbines."

This proposed wind farm will be in the vicinity of Lal Lal, 25km SE of
Ballarat.
There will be two sections, one just north of Elaine (south of
Lal Lal, 40 turbines) and the other east of Yendon (north of Lal Lal
and 24 turbines).

The proposer is
WestWind, from whose Internet
pages (especially 'http://www.w-wind.com.au/html/LLPOverview.htm',
which is no longer available) most of this information came.

Westwind has a planning permit for the wind farm.
On 2011/12/11 Westwind's Net
pages gave the latest news was an application to amend the planning
permit lodged on 2011/01/21.
On 2011/11/15 the Melton-Leader online news reported that Lal Lal would
proceed unchanged after the amendment application was rejected by the
state government.
The modification would have increased the tip height from 130m to 150m and
increase generation by 50%.

Lal Lal summary data

Status

# Turbines

MW each

Total MW

Completion date

Lat.

Long.

Approved

64

2-3

128-192

2015 expected

S 37.71°

E 144.01°

Further data on Lal Lal Wind Farm...

Wind farm sections

Name

Lat.

Long

Elaine

S 37.76°

E 144.00°

Yendon

S 37.64°

E 144.02°

The developers have stated that they expect council rates to be
$215 000 per year.

Hepburn given World Wind Energy Award at Bonn

At the invitation of the World Wind Energy Association Taryn Lane of
Hepburn Wind gave a presentation at the World Wind Energy Conference in
Bonn, Germany, in July 2012.
Congratulations to Hepburn Wind on receiving this prestigious award!

This community wind farm has a Net page at
Hepburn Wind.
It is 27km NE of Ballarat and 10km south of Daylesford at Leonards Hill.

Both turbines were raised in March 2011.
Hepburn announced that power started flowing from their turbines to the
power grid on 10.20am of 2011/06/22.

Leonards Hill Wind Farm summary data

Status

# Turbines

MW each

Total MW

Completion date

Lat.

Long.

Operating

2

2.05

4.1

2011/06/22

S 37.43°

E 144.12°

Leonards Hill Wind Farm

Generation from the wind farm is expected to be about 12.2GWh per year and
capacity factor around 34%.

Hepburn Wind has allocated $15k per turbine per year to their Community
Sustainability Fund in the financial year commencing 1 July 2011.
This will be increased by CPI annually and is expected over the first 25
years to exceed $1 000 000.

Hepburn's community fund is far greater, per turbine, than any other in
Australia.
Simon Holmes à Court, Chairman of Hepburn Wind, has said that
"this is the first time a wind farm in Australia will be paying more to
the community than it does in lease payments".

The developer is Wind Power, which is fully owned by Origin.
Lexton is about 43km NW of Ballarat and 140km WNW of Melbourne.
The wind farm site consists of two distinct areas between 2km and 8km
SW of the township of Lexton, see map at the right.

Much of the data here was from
Dept. Primary Industry Victoria,
and "http://www.wind-power.com.au/Projects/Lexton/index.asp"
(which as of 2011/12/11 redirects to Stockyard Hill) and ABARE.

I've heard on the grapevine that Origin have decided to not procede with this
project (2012/08/28).

No change in infrasound levels

Business Spectator reported on
2013/07/25 on a Resonate Acoustics study indicating that infrasound levels
were the same before and after the commissioning of the Macarthur Wind Farm.

Macarthur Wind Farm is the biggest in Australia (as of Nov. 2012) and
the biggest in the Southern Hemisphere so far as I have been able to find
out (although Stockyard Hill Wind Farm, which has received
Government approval, will be bigger if and when it is built).
In November 2012 all of the Macarthur turbines were in place and most were
generating power.
The first of the Macarthur turbines started generating power on the weekend
of 2012/09/29-30.

Macarthur is 33km south of Hamilton and about 270km west of Melbourne;
the wind farm will be 12 to 15km
east of Macarthur.

Macarthur summary data

Status

# Turbines

Manufacturer

Model

MW each

Total MW

Completed

Lat.

Long.

Operating

140

Vestas

V112

3.0

420

Early 2013

Approx. S 38.04°

E 142.20°

The wind farm was constructed by a Vestas/Leighton Contractors consortium.
AGL will acquire all of the wind farm's energy output and renewable
energy certificates.
It has been connected to the Heywood-Mooralbool 500kV transmission line
by a new 14km line.

Further data on Macarthur Wind Farm

Project cost

Aus$1b, estimated

Average wind speed

7.6m/s

Expected capacity factor

35%

Turbine height

84m

Maximum blade tip height

140m

Length of on-site access tracks

90km

Length of underground cables

90km

Total concrete used

56 000 cubic metres (estimated)

Steel reinforcing used

8 000 tonnes

Greenhouse carbon dioxide avoided

1.7m tonnes per annum, estimated

The above information was taken from the AGL Net site

The Vestas V-112-3.0MW turbines will be equal in generating capacity to the
highest elsewhere in Australia (Waterloo WF, SA), and the rotors will be
greater in diameter than any in Australia (Waterloo has 90m diameter rotors,
compared to the 112m rotors of Macarthur).
They will reach their full generating capacity at a wind speed of about
11m/s.
The swept area
is 9 852m2, almost a hectare; the blades are 54.6m long.

A few of the Macarthur wind turbines

Macarthur Wind Farm – turbines operable

The number of turbines operational and capable of generating
electricity at Macarthur Wind Farm
Image credit: Vestas

The graph on the right records the start-up period of Macarthur Wind Farm.
Note that as soon as all the turbines were on-line for the first time (about
2013/01/08) there were only very short periods when one or possibly two
turbines were not operable.

This is a remarkable demonstration of the reliability of Vestas turbines.
What other industry would show such a high level of availability on
brand-new machines?

The developer is
West Wind PL and, if built, the
farm will be 25-30km southeast of Ballarat and south of Ballan.
It is proposed that the wind farm will be in two sections.
The Bungeeltap Section, to the north, is proposed to contain 58 wind
turbines, and the Ballark (sometimes called Mt Wallace) section,
to the south, is proposed to contain 70 turbines.

Moorabool Wind Farm summary data

Status

# Turbines

MW each

Total MW

Construction date

Lat.

Long.

Approved

107

2 to 3.3

225 to 350

Undecided

Approx. S 37.71°

E 144.11°

This project was approved by the Victorian Government in late October 2010.

Further data on Moorabool Wind Farm

Rotor diameter

Up to 104m

Total height

Up to 150m (to tip of blade)

Expected annual generation

784GWh

Expected project cost

Aus$750m

The proposed wind farm is within the local government district of Moorabool.
On 10th Nov. 2010 the Melton/Moorabool Leader reported that Moorabool Mayor
Pat Toohey said it was the shire's policy that the turbines should be at least
2km from homes, but the permit conditions gave a minimum distance of 1km.

Originally Acciona Energy proposed that this wind farm consist of two parts,
Mortlake East about 9.5km east of Mortlake, and Mortlake South about
5km south of Mortlake.
On 2011/11/28 The Warrnambool Standard printed and article stating that
the Mortlake East section had been abandoned by Acciona, but that they
intend that the Mortlake South section go ahead.
Acciona are expecting a cost of around $200m.

Acciona has a
Net page on the project.
They have a dedicated Community Liaison Co-ordinator for Mortlake;
Tracey Ward can be contacted on 1800 283 550 or
mortlake@acciona.com.au

Mortlake is 42km NE of Warrnambool.
There are two sections to the proposed wind farm; Acciona calls them
Mortlake East (about 9.5km east of Mortlake) and Mortlake South (about
5km south of Mortlake); see the map on the right.

Acciona received approval for the South section of the proposed wind farm,
Mortlake South Wind Farm, in October 2010.

Also known as Woodhouse Wind Farm

NewEN Australia has some involvement
in this project; it is a subsidiary of two German companies.
The Chinese company Goldwind did own this project, but sold its interest to
China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group subsidary CGN Wind Energy.
The wind farm is to be 12km NE of Penshurst which is 26km SE of Hamilton
and 230km west of Melbourne.

Goldwind
have (had?) a Net page
on the project.
Reuters published an article on 2012/06/29 stating that Goldwind had sold
the project to CGN Wind Energy Ltd.

Recharge ("the global source for renewable energy news") announced on
2011/12/14 that construction began "in October, with
turbine installation due in the first half of next year".

Morton's Lane Wind Farm summary data

Status

# Turbines

Manufacturer

Model

MW each

Total MW

Completed

Lat.

Long.

Operating

13

Goldwind

GW82

1.5

19.5

December 2012?

Approx. S 37.84°

E 142.41°

Goldwind GW82, 1.5 MW turbines have been used.
According to Ecogeneration, these will be 'Permanent Magnet Direct Drive'
turbines.
Goldwind expects that the wind farm generate up to 66.7 GWh of power
annually (from which one can calculate a capacity factor of 39%).

The wind farm started putting electricity into the national grid in
November 2012.

This proposed wind farm will be in the vicinity of Mount Gellibrand, 22km NE
of Colac, 16km west of Winchelsea and about 110km SSW of Melbourne.
It was given initial planning approval by the Victorian Minister for Planning,
Rob Hulls, on August 20th, 2006.

Forced commencement

This is one of several Victorian wind farms where construction had to start
by mid March 2012 or approval would have to be sought again under the
new laws.
Approval under the new laws would be very unlikely.

On 2012/01/25 Acciona announced that final approval had been received and
that construction would begin on March 15.
Acciona has a Net page on the project.

Reported in The Warrnambool Standard, 2012/01/26:

Acciona Energy generation director Brett Wickham said the farm would create
about 200 jobs during construction and 16 ongoing positions once it was
operational.
He said up to 10 of the 149-metre turbines would be built within two
kilometres of homes and could have been affected if the plant had been
proposed under the new planning regime.
"The project would have been less viable because these projects are
marginal and essentially we could have less turbines to pay off what is a
significant investment in (power) grid connection and other things,"
Mr Wickham said.

The project has changed hands twice.
Acciona, the current owner, has an email address for inquiries:
gellibrand@acciona.com.au.

Mount Gellibrand summary data

Status

# Turbines

MW each

Total MW

Completion date

Lat.

Long.

Under construction

63

3

189

?

Approx. S 38.23°

E 143.80°

The coordinates are those of Mount Gellibrand
I requested a completion date from Acciona on 2013/01/12.

The Warrnambool Standard carried an article on 2012/02/24 stating that
Acciona Energy have abandoned this project.
Construction expense, geographic location and changed economic conditions were
cited as reasons for the decision.

This project has been proposed by Acciona Energy and is intended to be
built about eight kilometres north of Port Campbell.
Acciona's development director is Andrew Thomas.
The timeline for construction is not finalised but it is anticipated that
work will extend over several years.
(From The Warrnambool Standard,
2011/07/30)

The planning permit for the Newfield Wind Farm was granted in August 2008
and an extension was granted by Corangamite Shire extending the original
permit to 2012/03/15 (and expiring on 2014/03/15).
David Clarke, Senior Manager, Stakeholder and Community Relations with
Acciona Energy, also said (pers. com)
"ACCIONA Energy has undertaken extensive work
and commissioned numerous studies and engaged in consultation with relevant
authorities over the past six months in order to prepare the Development
Plan.
ACCIONA Energy submitted a Development Plan for the Newfield Wind Farm to
Corangamite Shire in June 2011.
It is anticipated that the Development Plan will be approved by the end of
2011."

Also known as Glenthompson Wind Farm

Some of the Oaklands Hill turbines

AGL did own this wind farm, but have apparently sold it to Challenger Life.
(From the Warrnambool Standard, 2011/06/28, and Sydney Morning Herald,
2011/07/04.)
It was built on a series of ridgelines 3 to 5km
south of Glenthompson and about 50km east of Hamilton in western Victoria.
The area has been cleared for grazing, the hills round and grassy, and
the ridges have a variety of orientations.
AGL's Net site includes
a map showing the layout of the farm.

Suzlon S88 2.1MW turbines are used and the estimated capital cost of the
project was Aus$200m.

ABC On-line news reported on 12th March 2010 that
"The State Government fast tracked [the wind farm] last year because it will
be used to offset the emissions of the new desalination plant in Wonthaggi."

Oaklands Hill Wind Farm summary data

Status

# Turbines

Manufacturer

Model

MW each

Total MW

Completion due

Lat.

Long.

Operating

32

Suzlon

S88

2.1

63

2012/02/28

Approx. S 37.68°

E 142.55°

32 × 2.1 does not equal 63;
total output is capped at 63MW, "which allows for at least one
turbine to be off-line at any time for service or maintenance"

Victorian Energy and Resources Minister Peter Batchelor turned the first
sod on the site on 2010/03/19.

Windlab Systems has a
Net page
on the project and Suzlon, who are supplying the turbines, have a
downloadable pdf
file.
Suzlon have taken responsibility for most of the construction, including
roads, turbines and electrical system, as well as maintenance once the farm
is operating.
All the 26km of electrical cable within the farm is to be underground.

RES have a Net page on the project.
If built it will be about 3km SW of Penshurst and about 10km SE of
Hamilton in the shires of Southern Grampians and Moyne.
On the Net page "RES is now in the process of completing the required
environmental assessments for the project and intends to submit the planning
permit application for the proposed wind farm and associated infrastructure in
early 2012."
(A year or more earlier they were saying exactly the same thing with an
'early 2011' date.)

Penshurst Wind Farm summary data

Status

# Turbines

MW each

Total MW

Construction date

Lat.

Long.

Proposed

223?

3?

675?

Unknown

S 37.91°

E 142.19°

Map credit RES

There was an article about the project in
The Warrnambool Standard on
15th Nov. 2010.
It stated that RES propose up to 225 turbines and that they will be 175m
from base to blade tip.

RES intend to lodge the planning permit application in the first quarter
of 2011.

The Liberal Government elected in
late November 2010 have changed the laws
to not allow wind turbines to be built within
two kilometres of residences not financially connected to a wind farm.
This project would have to be of questionable viability should it not be
built before this law comes into force.

Pacific Hydro say that this "project will produce enough clean electricity
to power about 125 000 homes... That's equal to more than 7% of
Victoria's residential electricity demand or powering a city the size of
Geelong."

The graph on the right shows the power generation record for Cape Bridgewater
and Cape Nelson South
Wind Farms as recorded by AEMO (Australian Energy Market Operator) and
downloaded via the ALG (Australian Landscape Guardians) Net site.
The units are average megawatts generated month by month.

This very small wind farm is proposed by Future Energy PL, who have
applied for planning approval.
Future Energy had a Net page
(http://www.pykeshillwindfarm.com.au/project.html) on the project, but as of
2011/12/11 it was no longer available.

Pykes Hill Wind Farm summary data

Status

# Turbines

MW each

Total MW

Construction date

Lat.

Long.

Abandoned

3

2?

6?

Never

S 37.58°

E 144.28°

Map from Future Energy PL

It is proposed that the farm will be just to the north of the Western
Highway, six kilometres NE of Ballan and about 37km east of Ballarat.

The planning application was lodged in January 2010.

Abandoned!

On 2011/09/02 an article was published in the Ballarat Courier (written by
Jennifer Grieve) stating that "Future Energy has abandoned its plan to build
three wind turbines at Pykes Hill".
Future Energy's managing director David Shapero "said Future Energy
planned to take its renewable energy developments interstate".

Also called Ryan's Corner Wind Farm

Union Fenosa has called for 'information-only tenders'.
During the second stage of tendering UF aims to give local businesses
ample notice and information to enable them to compete.
The project requires a power purchase agreement before it can proceed.

Planning Minister Matthew Guy announced that construction had started in
March 2012.

The email address for inquiries is info@unionfenosa.com.au, telephone
number 1800 457 181; or 02 8297 8720; the contact person
is Tom Mitchell.

On 2012/02/25 the Warrnambool Standard announced that Minister
Guy had approved this project.
The Standard went on to report that
"Union Fenosa managing director Domingo Asuero said the company would provide
site possession to Portland-based GR Carr Construction."
The Standard reported that
"Many of the turbines will be erected on [Yambuk farmer Kieron] Moore's
property, situated north-east of Yambuk."

The proponent is Union Fenosa Wind Aust.
The proposed wind farm is 12km NW of Port Fairy, near Yambuk and
Codrington.

The site covers an area of approximately 3 600ha and comprises
twelve land holdings.
It has been substantially cleared and is currently used for grazing.
It is generally bound by the Port Fairy-Hamilton Road, Fingerboard
Road, and Shaw River.
It is dissected by Riverside Road and Harris Road.

Ryan Corner Wind Farm summary data

Status

# Turbines

MW each

Total MW

Full construction works

Completion date

Lat.

Long.

Under construction

67

2

134

Late 2013

Unknown

Approx. S 38.28°

E 142.14°

Additional information on Ryan Corner

Project cost

Up to Aus$300 million

Annual generation

Estimated 360GWh

Annual CO2 abatement

Estimated 332 thousand tonnes

Tower height

78m

Rotor diameter

87m

Blade length

43.5m

Total height

121.5m

Forced commencement

This is one of several Victorian wind farms where construction had to start
by mid March 2012 or approval would have to be sought again under the
new laws.
Approval under the new laws would be very unlikely.

The ABC on-line news carried the following on 2008/08/25...
"The Victorian Government has confirmed a 68-turbine farm at Ryan's
Corner, near Port Fairy, and a 31-turbine farm near Hawkesdale, will
go ahead."

"Ryan Corner and Hawkesdale are essentially a single project, as they are
now advanced to a similar stage and both have been fully-permitted to
proceed with construction.
Both will connect to the national electricity grid at Tarrone using common
transmission and connection infrastructure, both will be constructed by the
same head contractor (either simultaneously or in succession), both will
commence operations simultaneously, and both will sell their electricity to
a single customer under a power purchase agreement (PPA) contract.
We now regard the two projects, for all practicable purposes, as a single
project.

Ryan Corner Development Pty Limited (a subsidiary of UFWA) became the owner
of both the Ryan Corner and Hawkesdale projects through a merger that we
completed last year, and it has been making a combined offering in power
purchase agreement negotiations with customers for our electricity.
It will be able to offer a larger, single contract to the head contractor,
which will create greater economies of scale during construction and make
both sites easier to project manage during the construction phase.

The projects will take about 14 months to build, and we need to be wary of
the project delays that another record-breaking wet winter might entail."

Also known as Woorndoo Wind Farm

The developer was
NewEN Australia,
but they sold the project to Trust Power whose
Net page stated that construction had
been paused but completion was expected in March 2015.

The wind farm is to about 20km north of Mortlake, which is 42km NE of
Warrnambool and 190km SSW of Melbourne.
It was given planning approval in June 2007; as of October 2008 that seems
to be the last information made public by NewEN Australia.

Sarah Scopelianos wrote an article for the Weekly Times on 2012/01/05 stating
that internal road works were expected to start in March (2012), with
completion due by the end of 2014.

ABC On-line News carried an article dated 2012/02/29 which said that Moyne
Council had approved amended permits the previous night.

The developer is Roaring 40s who have been investigating the Sidonia Hills
site since 2004.
An email I had from infoaustralia@roaring40s.com stated that Roaring 40s
expected to submit a planning application in late 2009.
Direct inquiries to the above or to SidoniaHills@roaring40s.com.

The site is about 10km NE of Kyneton, which is about 60km NE of Ballarat.

Roaring 40s first newsletter states that:
"The site is particularly well suited to wind farming because,
among other things:

The area is sparsely populated

The land has been changed and cleared for grazing

The landowners are supportive of the development

Transportation and grid connection options are available."

The predominant current use of the site at present is for grazing.

Roaring 40s has a
Net page
on the project.
Their home page is
http://www.roaring40s.com.au/.
They released a newsletter on this project in August 2008; this reported that
they intend to submit their planning application in late September and
that they expect a determination by the Minister in early 2009.

Sisters Wind Farm has been proposed by Wind Farm Developments and, if
built, will be about 10km west of Terang.
Wind Farm Developments have a not very informative
Net page on the project.

As of 2011/12/11 there seems to have been little activity on this project
for several years.

Moyne Shire Council declined planning permission and Wind Farm Developments
has appealed the decision to the Victorian Civil and Administrative
Tribunal (VCAT) (sources close to the project, 2009/08/20).

Synergy Wind PL has an unusually informative Net page on the
farm
(most of the information is found via the "site analysis" link).
It is proposed to be in West Gippsland 5km east of the existing
Wanthaggi Wind Farm.

The Leongatha Southern Star carried
an article on the proposal on 2010/11/16.
According to the article the site is bordered by Lynnes, Kirrak and Shepherd
roads.
Bass Coast Council planning director Hannah Duncan-Jones, said council
officers had met with Synergy Wind representatives ahead of them lodging
a planning application.
She said Synergy Wind had committed to running workshops to tell the
community about the wind farm.
These will be held early next year.

St Clair Wind Farm summary data

Status

# Turbines

MW each

Total MW

Construction date

Lat.

Long.

Proposed

10 to 15

2 or 3?

30

Unknown

Approx. S 38.60°

E 145.65°

Victorian parliamentarian (MLA) Ken Smith, who lives about 1km from the
proposed wind farm, seems to be leading the local opposition.

From Wind Power's July 2008 newsletter
Note that the number of turbines has since been changed.

Wind Power (fully owned by
Origin) have proposed this farm
between
Beaufort and Skipton, and about 40km west of Ballarat.

The Wall Street Journal published the following on 2013/01/16:

"Origin is continuing development works through 2013, including securing
the transmission line easements.
This work will inform Stockyard Hill's final technical design as well as
the timing of any final investment decision on the project"

This was a quote from an Origin spokesman.

I had the following from a reliable source on 2012/04/11:

"After panel hearings and advice, [Stockyard Hill Wind Farm] was radically
cut by Minister Justin Maddern in Nov. 2010 from 242 turbines to 157 for 2
reasons: the threat to a brolga population and the pressure from one
Peter Mitchell
who owns the historic Mawallock property which was in line of sight."

Stockyard Hill Wind Farm summary data

Status

# Turbines

MW each

Total MW

Construction date

Lat.

Long.

Approved

157

3

471

Undecided

Approx. S 37.56°

E 143.39°

If this project goes ahead in the near future it will be the biggest
wind farm in Australia and probably in the Southern Hemisphere.

Owned by Union Fenosa Wind Australia
Tarrone Wind Farm
is intended to be 25km North of Pt Fairy; there is a map of the project in
the newsletter of March 2011.
It is expected that Tarrone will share the same grid connection with
Hawkesdale and
Ryan Corner wind farms.
It is expected that "up to" 30 jobs will be created in the construction
period, and five full time jobs for the life of the wind farm.

Union Fenosa seem not to have said what size turbines will be involved, but
judging from other recent projects they will probably be from 2.1 to 3 MW.

Toora is north of Wilsons Promontory and 150km SE of Melbourne.
The wind farm is on a ridge overlooking the town.
For an interactive map and/or directions to Toora go to
ExplorOz.

Toora Wind Farm was originally owned by Stanwell Corporation, but was
acquired by Transfield Services Infrastructure Fund, who bought all
Stanwell's wind farms in December 2007.
More recently TSIF's wind power assets were taken over by Ratch Australia
Corporation

ALSTOM was contracted to design, supply, install and commission the
22/66kV substation, together with associated civil works.

Vestas Wind Systems - a Danish company, and one of the world's largest
turbine manufacturers - constructed the wind farm.

I visited Toora in late April 2008, staying in the caravan park at the foot
of the hill on which the wind farm is built.
My impression when I was close to the turbines was that they might have
been a little noisier than most others I have visited, but even so,
they were barely audible from the caravan park, and then only once in a
while.

Visiting Toora Wind Farm

There are good viewing and photography points on a road that passes right
by the wind farm.
From some of these views of the coastal plain, the Strzelecki Ranges, and
Wilsons Promontory can be combined with views of the turbines.
Accommodation is available in a caravan park at Toora.

This wind farm is near the small town of Waubra about 30km NW
of Ballarat on the Sunraysia Highway.
Part is on each side of the highway and many of the turbines can be seen
from the Western Highway west of Ballarat.
For an interactive map and/or directions to Waubra go to
ExplorOz.

Noise compliance problems?

It seems that the Waubra Wind Farm is slow in complying with noise level
requirements, as stressed in a speech in the Senate by John Madigan on
2013/12/10.
It is not clear whether the problem is with one or several turbines and/or
homes.

Waubra Wind Farm is owned by Acciona Wind Power, a sister company of
Acciona Energy,
and is the biggest wind farm AWP has yet built anywhere in the world.
Acciona Energy has an informative
Net page
on Waubra Wind Farm, including a location map,
and there is an article in
Wikipedia.
It seems that ANZ Infrastructure Services and Origin may also be
part owner.

The Ballarat Courier announced on 2012/03/25 that the 48 air navigation
lights on the turbine towers were going to be switched off following
decisions from the Civil Aviation Authority and Minister for Planning
Matthew Guy.
Air navigation lights had previously been switched of at several SA wind
farms (Clements Gap, Hallett and Snowtown).

The Ballarat Courier reported on 2010/11/18 that a total of seven houses
in the wind farm area have been bought by Acciona.
Four were bought as an initial requirement of the project's planning permit.
Two were bought recently because nearby turbines were making more noise
than was stipulated in the planning permit.
In Feb. 2010 another property was bought from Victor and Trish Godfrey;
Ms Godfrey had complained of major
health
problems.

Before the building of
Macarthur WF several sources had
published that Waubra was the biggest Wind Farm in Australia.
In fact both the
Hallett (total of 420MW) and
Lake Bonney
(total of 278.5MW) are considerably bigger than the 192MW of Waubra.
Waubra was second to the Hallett wind farms (SA) in the amount of electricity
actually generated, as of mid 2012.

Waubra summary data

Status

# Turbines

Manufacturer

Model

MW each

Total MW

Capacity factor

Completion date

Lat.

Long.

Operating

128

Acciona

AW 1500

1.5

192

37%

Oct. 2009

S 37.39°

E 143.63°

Completion was sometime from June to October, it seems that there was a
'launch' of the wind farm on 2009/10/06.
The capacity factor above was calculated from AEMO data, via
Andrew Miskelly's Web site,
for the period August 2009 to December 2012 inclusive.

The turbines are in three configurations, the maximum height to the
blade tip being: 109.8m, 117.1m, and 119.8m.
Air navigation lights are installed on 48 of the 128 wind turbine
towers.

Some controversy

The Waubra Wind Farm is one of
the Australian projects to receive a lot of news coverage, at least partly
because of the misleadingly named
Waubra Foundation.
Many of the residents of Waubra are annoyed by what they feel is the
misuse of the name of their town and are considering how they might restore
the situation.

Land values

Dr Sarah Laurie, the so called Medical Director (she is neither a registered
nor a
practicing doctor) and CEO of the Waubra Foundation, has claimed that
people have been forced to abandon their homes in the Waubra area by the
wind turbines.
In fact Pyrenees Shire Council records show rising land values in the Waubra
part of the Shire; this would not happen if the turbines were unpleasant to
live near.

In the Ballarat hearing of the Senate inquiry into the impact of wind farms
(2011/03/28) Councillor David Clark of the Pyrenees Shire Council said:

"We did a revaluation in early 2010, so six months after
Waubra wind farm was operating.
We did not see an effect on commercial agricultural land.
It had moved up and our belief is there were other factors driving the price
of that.
We did not see an effect on the nearby township of Waubra.
Prices again had moved up in the case of that township, which is about 1.2
to 1.5 kilometres away."

Two years later, in the Pyrenees Shire Council Meeting Minutes,
General Revaluation of Properties, 2012; of ten areas listed under
'Residentual Properties' Waubra shows the largest rise, 10.1%.
The average change of the remaining nine areas was a rise of 2.9%.
The valuations are done every two years.

Visiting Waubra Wind Farm

The town of Waubra is 30km NW of Ballarat on the Sunraysia Highway (highway
121).
The wind farm can be seen from both the Sunraysia Highway and the Western
Highway, but there are several minor roads near Waubra
that can be used to get in among the turbines.

Acciona Energy is planning a wind farm viewing area on the Sunraysia
Highway in Waubra.
This will not be near any of the turbines and much more interesting
views will be available for those who get off the highway onto the side
roads.

The graph on the right shows the power generation record for Waubra
Wind Farm as recorded by AEMO (Australian Energy Market Operator) and
downloaded via the ALG (Australian Landscape Guardians) Net site.
The units are average megawatts generated month by month.

"Neil Barrett of Takone Projects has been researching the Waubra situation
over the past year.
Whilst his attempts to understand the issues raised by complainants are
on-going, it has become clear to him that the apparent good health and
well-being of the great majority of the community deserves to be more widely
known."

This report was prepared by Noise Measurement Services (Dr Bob Thorne)
for Mr and Mrs Noel Dean at a cost of, I believe, some $40 000.
Mr and Mrs Dean live, or lived, near the Waubra Wind Farm.

In the report Dr Thorn wrote that pulsing infrasound and low-frequency sound
was adversely affecting Mr Dean's health.

Sonus, a consultancy on acoustics engineering, prepared a review of 'The
Dean Report' for the Clean Energy Council.
The Sonus report concluded that Dr Thorn's report "cannot support its
findings, and presents evidence that is contrary to those findings.
The study does not include any of the minimum element required to make its
findings, and as such, is fundamentally flawed."

Also known as Inverleigh Wind Farm

It is proposed that this wind farm will be on Mt Pollock and 10km north-east
of Winchelsea and about the same distance SE of Inverleigh; both of which
are near Geelong.
The towers are expected to be 80m high, the blades 35m to 29m in
length and the farm is expected to generate around 85GWh of electricity
each year.

Much of this information came from International Power's Net site.
There is also some information on
Future Energy's
news page.

Wonthaggi Wind Farm is about 100km SE of Melbourne, 75km NW of Wilsons
Promontory and 3km west of Wonthaggi town center in Gippsland, Victoria.
It is owned by Origin, through Wind Power who had a Net
on the wind farm, but seem to have removed it.

One blade of one of the turbines was broken on 2012/03/21,
apparently struck by lightning.
See Yes2Renewables for more information.

Wonthaggi summary data

Status

# Turbines

Manufacturer

Model

MW each

Total MW

Annual production

Commissioned

Lat.

Long.

Operating

6

REpower

MM82

2

12

34GWh expected

December 2005

S 38.60°

E 145.55°

An example wind power generation graph, this one for August 2007,
from Wonthaggi, Victoria.
Acknowledgement Wind Power

Visiting Wonthaggi Wind Farm

The foot of one turbine can be reached from Wonthaggi via Campbell and
Baxter Roads, but it is necessary to go through a couple of gates.
A fair view can also be obtained from a hill of mine waste via West Area
Road; about Lat. S 38.59°, Long. E 145.55°.

Proposed by Windfarm Developments (who have a Net
page on the project),
this wind farm is to be built 16km north
of Warrnambool and about 2km west of the township of Woolsthorpe.

An anemometry mast was erected in July 2002 and the Minister for Planning
approved the farm in April 2008.

In March 2012 Planning Minister Matthew Guy announced that construction had
commenced.

Forced commencement

This is one of several Victorian wind farms where construction had to start
by mid March 2012 or approval would have to be sought again under the
new laws.
Approval under the new laws would be very unlikely.

Woolsthorpe summary data

Status

# Turbines

MW each

Total MW

Completion date

Lat.

Long.

Under construction

20

2

Approx. 40

Unknown

Approx. S 38.18°

E 142.40°

I inquired of Wind Farm Developments for a completion date on
2012/03/25

Also called Yaloak South Wind Farm

Yaloak is near Ballan in western Victoria.
Ballan is 33km east of Ballarat and 68km west of Melbourne.

This Pacific Hydro project was originally for "70 wind turbines and was
refused by Minister
Hulls in July 2005 due to the potential impact of the development on the
Wedge-tailed Eagle population and, to a lesser extent, visual amenity in the
Parwan Valley."

This project was approved by the Victorian Government in late October 2010.

Yaloak summary data

Status

# Turbines

MW each

Total MW

Construction date

Lat.

Long.

Approved

14

2.1?

Approx. 30

Undecided

Approx. S 37.61°

E 144.23°

The proposed wind farm is within the local government district of Moorabool.
On 10th Nov. 2010 the Melton/Moorabool Leader reported that Moorabool Mayor
Pat Toohey said it was the shire's policy that the turbines should be at least
2km from homes, but the permit conditions gave a minimum distance of 1km.

Visiting Yambuk

While the Princes Highway passes within a few kilometres of the wind farm
it is not possible to get close to the turbines on any public roads.
A road from the township of Yambuk to some coastal lakes provides a fair
view of the south-eastern end of the wind farm.
The photo on the right was taken from this area.

Note that this wind farm is adjacent to Codrington Wind Farm, with no
obvious boundary between the two.

The graph on the right shows the power generation record for Yambuk
Wind Farm as recorded by AEMO (Australian Energy Market Operator) and
downloaded via the ALG (Australian Landscape Guardians) Net site.
The units are average megawatts generated month by month.

In addition to the wind farms detailed above many others have been proposed
(table below).

If and when any of these proposed wind farms look likely to be built,
and as I get more information, I will write them up in more detail.
If any readers have information concerning these I would appreciate
a note, my email address is at the top of this page.

Until a wind farm gets at least to the point where an application for
approval has been submitted to the relevant authority it may be little
more than wishful thinking and is not worth covering in more detail than
that below.